


as long as i'm standing by

by WritingThroughTheMess



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Divorce, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Science Bros, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 11:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11645499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingThroughTheMess/pseuds/WritingThroughTheMess
Summary: Tony is hurt and scared and reluctant to let anyone near him. Bruce is terrified of letting himself near anyone else.They work together, around each other, weave two broken lives together to form the semblance of a slightly more whole one.





	as long as i'm standing by

It’s raining, and Tony’s window is open wide to it, a small puddle already forming on his desk. He’s staring blankly at the storm, not quite aware of the damage it’s doing to the dark wood his elbows rest on. Bruce wants to move the stack of paperwork away from the water, or maybe close the window, or maybe kiss Tony until he’ll tell the other man what’s wrong, but instead he coughs lightly and isn’t surprised when Tony startles.

There is a blossoming black and blue bruise on his cheek and matching bags under both eyes. The blanket folded neatly at the end of the couch in Tony’s office, pillow resting on top, doesn’t go unnoticed by Bruce.

He raises his eyebrows in greeting and Tony smiles wanly back. The older man looks like the act is foreign and the smile itself is brittle but it’s there and Bruce will take that.

“Morning.”

“Hi,” Tony replies, and there is a distinct lack of the usual jest in his voice.

“You should get some sleep,” Bruce observes, even as he slips another stack of paperwork on Tony’s ever growing pile. “This can wait.”

“Mmm. Hard to sleep in an empty bed.”

“Oh,” Bruce tries hard to show his disinterest because he absolutely does not care where Tony’s husband is, it’s none of his concern. “Where’s Steve?”

“Taking care of Bucky.”

“Oh,” he says again, a broken record of useless responses. “Try to get some sleep.”

When he comes back into the office later and Tony’s napping fitfully on the couch, head resting on his arm, one leg hanging off the side, Bruce covers him with the blanket that’s been pushed to the floor and thinks quietly to himself _but_ _who’s taking care of you?._

* * *

  
There are bruises in the shape of fingers around Tony’s wrist now, and Bruce’s heart aches with sympathy. He thinks he knows where the bruises are coming from, but he doesn’t know how to approach it, so settles instead for holding a bag of frozen peas on the area while he listens to Tony come up with every excuse in the book.

Only he knows Tony, and Tony is not clumsy enough to walk into a door, and these marks are too specific and about the right size for the hulking hand of a super soldier. But the man is nothing if not stubborn, and even if he is being hurt trying to glue together the shattered remains of his marriage, he refuses to believe something is broken beyond repair. So Tony goes on doggedly creating elaborate stories and Bruce goes on pretending to believe them.

 _Tony loves Steve_ , he tells himself, ignoring the bitter taste the lie leaves in his mouth, _and Steve loves Tony. They’ll work it out._

* * *

  
It is a surprise to no one when it doesn’t.

It is, however, a surprise to almost everyone the way it crumbles so spectacularly to pieces.

 _Well,_ Bruce thinks bitterly to himself, _is smashed to pieces, more like_.

After nearly three years without an incident, Hulk decides that the first person he wants to smash is Steve.

Steve, who broke Tony’s arm. Steve, who broke Tony’s arm because Tony stood up to him, accused him of having an affair with Bucky and was then slammed into a wall by the one person who had vowed to protect him.

When Bruce comes around, naked and disoriented and parched, his first coherent thought is, for once, not for the person he hurt, but for Tony.

He spends the night sprawled in the uncomfortable plastic chair next to Tony’s hospital bed, the position doing nothing to soothe his protesting muscles. When his friend wakes up Bruce staggers over to the bed and manages to hide the hurt on his face when Tony flinches away from his touch.

The rage is still there, simmering and bubbling, buried under layers of concern, of wishes that he had done something sooner.

When Tony asks, small and broken and uncertain, if Bruce will move into the tower because he doesn’t want to be alone, he can’t find the heart to say no. He swallows any comments about the Other Guy, nods, and reaches again for Tony’s hand. This time, the other man doesn’t move away.

* * *

  
It takes time and a good deal of patience on both their parts.

Tony is hurt and scared and reluctant to let anyone near him. Bruce is terrified of letting himself near anyone else.

They work together, around each other, weave two broken lives together to form the semblance of a slightly more whole one.

Bruce becomes friends with the ‘bots, laughing when Tony acts put out at their obvious preference to the younger man over their creator. He pretends not to see Tony’s soft smile while he pats their clicking arms and instead directs them back towards their charging stations.

Tony wakes up early one morning and moves all of Bruce’s tea into his personal kitchen. Bruce sleeps on his floor more nights than not anyway and this seems easier. He tries to convince himself it is not symbolic of anything, but he can’t help but make sure that JARVIS sends him the recording of Bruce’s overjoyed expression when he emerged from the room to a hot fresh mug.

Tony lets Bruce take the arc reactor out of his chest, asks him to help adjust it and then tells the story of Obie, all stuttering words and shaky breaths. Bruce kisses him soon after, learns that there is a much more preferable way to make his breathing unstable.

Afterwards, Bruce covers Tony with a blanket once again. Only this time Tony lies comfortable, splayed on a luxurious bed, not cramped on a shoddy office couch. Bruce crawls under the covers with him and thinks quietly to himself _I will take care of you_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from The Bangles song I Will Take Care of You.
> 
> It's been a while, I'm a little rusty, so be gentle! 
> 
> Find me over on Tumblr: writingthroughthemess


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